Mega Man Megamix Arrives Wednesday; Final Preview Page Emerges

Now that this battle station is fully-armed and operational once again, we can now bring you the final preview page of UDON’s Mega Man Megamix Volume 1, which will be available in comic shops everywhere this Wednesday.

This last preview page gives us details of a fan-favorite Robot Master whose past is more mysterious than many of us at first thought:

Click to enlarge.

UDON Managing Editor Matt Moylan informs us that while comic shops will have the book, other retailers such as Amazon should be shipping the book “any time” as well.

And for those skeptical that this is really it, Mr. Moylan offers the following image as proof of the finished book’s existence:

Click to enlarge.

You might notice that Megamix does not sit alone here; in fact, arriving at comic shops this Wednesday will also be the first issue of UDON’s Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, and I’m sure they would love it if you all would give that a shot as well. After all, you never know when some of the artists might decide to sneak in something of interest.

Your Latest Mega Man Megamix Robot Master Profile

The first volume of UDON’s Mega Man Megamix is only one week away from release, and as promised, they have passed along another preview page from the book’s profile section:

Click to enlarge.

Did any of you guess correctly?

The Angry Video Game Nerd Reads Mega Man 2

Indeed, you did not misread that headline; James Rolfe, aka the Angry Video Game Nerd, known for his vulgar and sometimes grotesque (albeit humorously so) reviews of some of the worst games the hobby has to offer, is not performing his regular run-of-the-mill duties for the Capcom franchise’s best-selling hit.

Rather, he is reading the Scholastic “Worlds of Power” novelization of Mega Man 2, without his usual brand of commentary, as the game’s music plays softly in the background. So unless I’ve missed something, this is safe for work, and only recommended for someone who has not read the original publication. The only other point of interest is at the start of the first video, where Rolfe briefly covers the concept of games in print:

Here is an admission: way back when the book was published in 1990, there was virtually nothing else in the way of media for Mega Man. Well, except Captain N: The Game Master, which I’m sure many will agree doesn’t quite cut it. I got this book and, in lieu of anything else, was a big fan as I was amazed at the stuff not seen in the games.

“Oh, so Mega Man is a robot that was turned into a human?” Yeah, I was pretty accepting. I even remember being upset with magazines of the day which continued to refer to him as a robot. Moreover, I was upset there was never a novelization for Mega Man 3, or the original Mega Man, for that matter.

Of course, things have changed quite a bit in the intervening years, with the Ruby-Spears cartoon and other things waking me up to the Blue Bomber still being a blue bot. I would also come across far better fiction from fans, and after that, find out there was a lot of stuff that Capcom had been holding out on us in Japan.

At least today, it’s easier for someone to get into the franchise and find out new facts about everything. And of course, we will continue our work (with your help) to make sure those facts are readily available to anyone who needs them.

News Credit: Cinemassacre, Mega Man Maniacs, RyanThunder in the Community, Pureauthor of the Penny Arcade forums, and probably some other places.

Rockman.EXE Official Complete Works Cover Art

Well, it looks like E-Capcom has finally let the cat out of the bag as far as the Rockman.EXE Official Complete Works cover art is concerned.

While the contents of the book seem very promising, the cover feels a bit underwhelming; especially when compared to the covers of all the previous Official Complete Works books. Why they went with such a plain design when there is so much great existing art from the series to work with is anyone’s guess.

Regardless, you can preorder the book (dropping on December 21st) at Play Asia right now for $36.90. For more details on the book’s contents, take a gander at our previous post.

News Credit: Protodude’s Rockman Corner

Mega Man: Complete History Canceled

We have some bad news. It looks like the “Mega Man: Complete History” book we posted about back in July has been canceled. Here’s the official word:

“Unfortunately this book will not be published, but we are coming out with a Street Fighter book. I let the person who worked on this book know and she is going to make sure that the information gets taken off the website. Thank you for your concern.”

As somebody who was looking forward to this book (and had it on preorder), this news is pretty disappointing. Well, at least we still have some other books to look forward to.

News Credit: GoNintendo, via Protodude’s Rockman Corner

Mega Man Megamix Pre-Order on Amazon

Not even letting the dust settle from the pre-order announcement of “Mega Man: Complete History“, we have another piece of bad news for your wallet.

Get ready to throw your hands up in celebration. Hitoshi Ariga’s “Rockman Megamix” manga is finally coming to the U.S. as “Mega Man Megamix” thanks to Udon. You can actually place your pre-order for the first volume right now on Amazon for the price of $12.95. February 13th, 2010 can’t come soon enough!

News Credit: Protodude’s Rockman Corner

“Mega Man: Complete History” Available for Pre-Order

Have you ever wanted to know all about the history of Mega Man? Would you like to read about the series’ conception and how one little blue robot became a videogame icon in extreme detail? Well, you’re in luck! Right now, Barnes & Noble is taking pre-orders for “Mega Man: Complete History”. This paperback history lesson, published by Chronicle Books LLC, is said to release on October 1st of this year.

“From napkin-scrawled idea to production to million-selling success, both series’ histories will be told in extreme detail in original text and interviews with the developers, animators, and other industry folks. We’re going to pack in tons of art, too–early concept stuff as well as memorable character sprites. My favorite part may be the package itself, though–these are going to be paperbacks, but they’ll come in a partial slipcase that looks like an original Nintendo cartridge sleeve. “

This looks to be an exciting addition to any Mega Man fan’s collection of books. You’ll be able to take home this bad boy for under fifteen dollars in only a few more months.

News Credit: Protodude’s Rockman Corner

Ariga’s Rockman Megamix Reprints Coming 5/26

Coming on May 26th to Japan will be the second reprints of the first two volumes from the Rockman Megamix manga by artist Hitoshi Ariga. Preorders are now being taken on Amazon of Japan for these 1,600 Yen (approximately $15) books.

For collectors, the big draw here is the new covers made for the books by Ariga himself. You can compare them to the previous covers shown in the link above.

Curiously, there has yet to be a reprint of the Rockman Remix manga that I’m aware of; I think some of the contents were taken for the new versions of Megamix, but the Rockman X Megamissions manga has not been among them, from what I’ve heard.

With any luck, Udon’s recent announcement of bringing Rockman manga to America will yield these tomes. And if so, hopefully we’ll get the whole lot of stories, both old and new, Classic and X.

It would also be nice if they had some sort of cover galleries as well. Or even all-new covers by Ariga, but that might be asking a bit much. That said, does anyone have a preference of covers for these stories?

Source: Protodude’s Rockman Corner

Udon splitting R20?

A peek over at Udon Entertainment’s schedule shows something very interesting.

As we know, Udon announced at their Otakon panel that they had just signed the paperwork to translate and publish R20, a huge art book containing classic and X series art. So, here we are months later, and finally we get a peek at what they’re up to. What’s on their site?

Mega Man: Official Complete Works slated for release on September 09.
Mega Man X: Official Complete Works. slated for release on November 09.

It’s probably a safe bet this is R20, only being split up for it’s English release.

RnROCW: The look you’ve been waiting for

Ryuusei no Rockman Official Complete Works is out. People are buying it. And if you’ve been wanting to check out what the book holds, we’ve got some exclusive photos of the contents to show you.

The book is pretty standard as far as the Official Complete Works series goes. It may be understandable why, when the book was first announced, it was tentatively named Ryuusei no Rockman 3 Official Complete Works – pretty much the first two thirds of the book are dedicated to that one title. Numerous pages are devoted to not just showing artwork, but slices of various levels of detail of that artwork. There’s also plenty of unused stuff, such as Pirate and Angel Tribe forms.

But, you’re probably just impatient for the goods. Below are 12 photographs from the book. Don’t want to get too in depth for people planning on buying the book, and since Star Force 3 still isn’t out yet, but I managed to still get some pretty cool contents. Enjoy!

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